1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technology for creating electronic data of an image read from a paper sheet to provide the electronic data.
2. Description of the Related Art
Image processing apparatuses into which functions such as copying, network printing, faxing, scanning, and e-mail are integrated have attained widespread use. In general, such an image processing apparatus is sometimes called a “multifunction device”, a “Multi-Functional Peripheral (MFP)”, or an “image forming apparatus”.
Further, the scanning function and the e-mail function are combined to implement a function of Scan_To_Email. According to the Scan_To_Email function, an image is read from paper to create image data thereof, and the image data is attached to an e-mail message so that the image data is sent to a destination of a designated e-mail address.
It has recently become possible for such an image processing apparatus to save, to a server, electronic data of an image read from paper (image data) with the scanning function. Then, a terminal, e.g., a personal computer or a smartphone accesses the server to use a file saved thereto.
There are provided a variety of servers. For example, a server is included in an intranet. Such a server gives access permission only to a terminal included in the intranet and a device external to the intranet and establishing a connection based on a particular protocol. Such a server is a Network Attached Storage (NAS). Alternatively, an image processing apparatus functions as a server of this type in some cases.
Another server allows access from different devices via the Internet. Such a server is, for example, a cloud server (online storage).
There have been proposed technologies, discussed below, for sending and receiving data among users.
One of the technologies is directed to a network system (English abstract of Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2005-129976). In the network system, the Internet is connected to a digital copying machine via gateways and a firewall, and external personal computers and a web server are connected to the digital copying machine via the Internet. The digital copying machine can transmit read image data of an original to the web server in the network system above. Further, the digital copying machine transmits a URL of the storage destination of the transmitted image to the personal computers via the Internet, in the form of mail. Users of the personal computers receiving the mail from the digital copying machine, can browse an image read by the digital copying machine and download the image to the personal computers by accessing the URL designated by mail.
Another one of the technologies is directed to a network composite machine (English abstract of Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2005-278161). In the network composite machine connected with the network, to which a plurality of communication protocols are applied and which communicates various kinds of data with other terminals, it is provided with a file transmitting means for transmitting an e-mail notifying a URI for acquiring a document file stored in the self-terminal to a designated destination.
Yet another one of the technologies is directed to a system (English abstract of Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2008-199180). The system includes an MFP, a server, and terminals and does not allow the terminals to access the server. In the system, a file is transmitted from the MFP to the server and is preserved. The MFP transmits mail indicating that the MFP accepts browsing as a file operation to the file preserved in the server to a specified terminal. The mail includes the URL of the MFP and the URL is linked. The terminal transmits the request of browsing to the MFP when the URL displayed on a screen is clicked by a user. The MFP requests the transmission of the file to the server and acquires it when browsing is requested from the terminal. The MFP transmits the acquired file to the terminal to have it displayed on the screen according to the request of browsing requested by the user.
Yet another one of the technologies is directed to a document management terminal (English abstract of Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2010-055392). The document management terminal transmits a file held in the terminal to a document management device through a network in a predetermine case to store the file on the document management device. Then, the document management terminal generates a shortcut to the transmitted file. Files stored in the same layer as the transmitted file are also transmitted to the document management device, and a shortcut to the files is generated.
Yet another one of the technologies is directed to a method and device for mail conversion (English abstract of Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2003-006125). A mail conversion server separates the mail attached with a file, that a client who is a transmission host transmits the attached file from the mail text, the attached file is registered directly in a file server which is a storage destination, and information of the storage destination is attached to the mail text to be distributed to a mail server. The storage destination of the attached file is dynamically changed, based on a preset condition.
The use of Scan_To_Email function or the use of server enables image data to be sent and received among users.
According to the use of server, the users can send and receive image data therebetween even if the image data has a large size. For example, in general, the size of a file attachable to an e-mail message is a size of a few megabytes to several tens of megabytes. In contrast, the server can save a file independent of the file size as long as the file size does not exceed a size of a storage area allocated to a user in the server.
However, the use of server, involves accessing, by a user who is to receive the image data, the server based on information (for example, a URL of the image data) given by a user who is to send the image data, and downloading the image data by the recipient user. Further, the recipient user cannot download the image data unless he/she is not given a right to access the server. In light of this, the sender user needs to select a server to which the image data is to be uploaded depending on which user is to receive the image data.
In contrast, according to the use of Scan_To_Email, image data can be provided in the form of e-mail message directly from a user to another user without taking the foregoing situation into consideration.
However, as discussed above, the size of a file attachable to an e-mail message is limited. The Scan_To_E-Mail function is thus not suitable for sending/receiving image data having a large size.